40 parties to run national party lists in April 8th general election

On Tuesday National Election Committee chairman András Patyi publicly drew names to determine the sequence in which 40 parties will appear on the ballot for national lists in the April 8 general election.

Hungarians will cast two votes — one for an individual candidate in the electoral district in which they reside and one for a national party list.

Only parties running a minimum of 27 individual candidates in Budapest and nine counties may run a national party list.

The parties and the local governments were drawn at the same time owing to an administrative mistake. After striking the 13 so-called local governments from the list, the ballot for national party lists will be as follows:

National party list candidates may only enter parliament if their parties win at least 5 percent of the vote. In the case of joint national party lists, as in the case of Fidesz-KDNP and MSZP-Dialogue for Hungary, 10 percent of the vote is required for candidates to enter parliament from national lists.